A very rare skin disorder is affecting Shanyna Isom, a 28-year-old woman who grows nails on her head instead of hair. Apparently, it all started as a side effect to steroids doctors used to treat an asthma attack she had.

Shanyna Isom had that asthma attack in 2009 and after doctors gave her steroids, she had an allergic reaction, making her skin go darker and bumps appear on her feet. And of course, triggered this strange condition that makes her body produce nails instead of hair. And right now she is the only human being in the world with this condition! That’s not something to be very happy about!

The strange condition of Shanyna Isom

Especially since Shanyna Isom had a tough time finding out what she has: “They’ve tested me from A to Z, and everything was coming back negative,” the woman said.

Only when she was admitted, in 2011, John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, doctors saw that her hair follicles were producing 12 times as many skin cells as hair cells – which, in other words, means that they were producing nails.

She started taking treatment and her quality of life has increased a little bit: “I couldn’t sit up, I couldn’t walk,” she said. “Now I can walk with a cane and sometimes I can walk on my own.”

Unfortunately, this meant that her finances went down because the health insurance does not cover special treatment and just one of the 17 types of pills she has to take are covered by the insurance, meaning that her bills are now to $250,000. This forced the woman to create the SAI Foundation where everybody can donate to help her with this serious and unique problem. Click here to visit the blog’s page and donate.